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“Kita-chan isn’t here…”
I haven’t seen her since yesterday.
I haven’t heard anything about her since yesterday.
Ever since… ‘That’ happened…
‘That’ was pretty weird to be honest.
I never imagined Bocchi-chan doing something like that…
Bocchi-chan…
She’s always done weird things when under minimal amounts of pressure.
…
I shouldn’t ask about it, at least yet.
Who knows how she might react.
…
Still, I’m worried about Kita-chan…
I should check on her.
Yes, that’s it.
A quick ‘Hello, how are you?’
I’ll go to her place on my way back home.
I’m her senpai,
that’s my duty.
…
[DING DONG]
…
[No reply]
…
It’s lonely,
silent,
unremarkable...
…
[DONG DING]
…
“Kita-chan! It’s me, Nijika! I just wanted to see if you are fine!”
…
[No reply]
…
Maybe she isn’t home…
…
Third time’s the charm.
[DONG GONG DING]
…
What a weird doorbell…
Well, I guess she isn’t home…
I’ll come back tomorrow.
…
…
Kita-chan isn’t here again…
Everything is too quiet without her.
Those two are… usually in their own world.
This is too weird…
I didn’t think she was the kind of person to run-
[Runaway guitarist]
Wait no, she is totally the kind of person to run away.
…
‘That’ really affected her…
[Bocchi-chan]
…
It’s too early to ask about it…
…
[Ryo]
…
Should I take Ryo with me…?
Kita-chan had a… peculiar relationship with her…
…
I guess she would react to Ryo’s presence…
“Eeehhh… No way, they should fix that themselves.”
…
Of course she would say that.
She always does the bare minimum.
I’ll have to use my charm…
“I’ll give you 300 yen.”
[Snatch]
…
Guess she is coming…
“I still think we shouldn’t butt in.”
How irresponsible.
Though I guess that’s who Ryo is, irresponsible to the core.
“Come on! We have to make sure everything is A-okay! That’s our duty as senpais!”
…
[Silence]
She just stares at me.
Those eyes,
they remind me of a cow.
Always out of energy.
There’s no spark in them.
She won’t reply.
Maybe I convinced her.
Or maybe she knows I won’t budge.
Probably the latter…
The doorbell…
[Press]
“...”
Eh?
[Press]
Hmmm…
[Press]
It must be broken…
“Kita-chan! The doorbell is broken! Are you okay?”
[Silence]
“...”
[No movement]
Ryo.
I should give her a friendly reminder to do something.
[Poke]
“...Ikuyo”
No volume.
No intensity.
No emotion.
Those 300 yen weren’t worth it in the slightest.
[Movement]
“Eh?”
[The door opened]
…That really worked?
Ryo stares at me.
She looks a bit… smug.
Sometimes I don’t understand her,
it’s like she does magic when there is money involved.
Anyways,
I can finally check on Kita-chan.
This shouldn’t have been so hard, but at least it’s over now.
I walk inside her house.
Just a 'how are you' and we are done…
[Outside]
…
“Eh?”
Didn’t I walk in?
“Weren’t you walking in?”
[...]
“Y-Yeah…”
I run inside her house.
[Outside]
I run outside her house.
“...Eh?”
Why can’t I go inside?
I sprint insi-
I sprint outside.
“What’s goin-”
[SLAM]
…
The door is closed.
“...”
Somehow I feel rejected.
“Well, we tried.”
Ryo seems unimpressed, despite what just happened.
…Worst 300 yen of my life.
I’ll have to try again tomorrow…
I can’t just let things be after this…
…
Bocchi-chan.
…It’s been three days.
Surely things have calmed down enough.
I walk to her, slowly.
I touch her shoulder.
[Shriek]
Oops.
I scared her.
“Bocchi-chan, hi!”
“U-Uh… Hi…”
…
This is harder than I thought.
“S-So, how have you been?”
“F-Fine…”
[...]
I shouldn’t have expected her to continue the conversation.
Though I don’t really want to bring up Kita-chan out of nowhere…
I don’t really have a choice, do I?
“Have you… seen Kita-chan lately…?”
She looks away.
Yup, I shouldn’t have said that.
“She hasn’t come for the usual guitar lessons… ever since…”
[...]
“In fact, I haven’t seen her at all… I-It’s not like I’ve gone to her classroom to check for her…”
It’s probably not a good idea to take her to deal with whatever is happening.
Making the two of them meet so soon won't end well…
“A-Ah…! I completely forgot… She’s like… really really sick… S-So that’s why she is nowhere to be seen… Yes…”
“Eh…?”
“Anyways I have to go! Bye-bye Bocchi-chan!”
Boy do I hate lying.
Maybe it’s because I’m bad at it.
Or maybe I’m bad because I hate it…
Either way, it was for the better.
I have to fix this.
That’s my duty…
I gave another 300 yen to Ryo.
The things I do for my duty…
And with that,
I head to Kita-chan’s house once more.
Third time’s the charm…
...
Why is it the third exactly?
What's so special about the three?
It is not the first one,
nor is the last one,
nor is the first prime,
nor is the first odd,
nor is the first even…
Maybe the three is charming because it’s the first nobody.
Maybe people relate to it.
The less special, the more charming…
The more similar you are to everyone, the easier it is to understand them.
People started to think about it because it’s simple, and thus became special somehow.
And then it’s charming aura became a magical charm.
That’s why it became a miraculous number.
Because when something happens for a third time,
It stops being special,
and it becomes a pattern.
The magic of three is that it makes everything dull.
Nothing is special when it comes in a trio.
Nothing is remarkable when it happens thrice.
Maybe that’s why the third time is the charm.
Because if the same thing happens again,
it will most likely go on forever.
Third time's the charm is just another way of saying it’s now or never,
because no one tries a fourth time,
because loss became a pattern,
because three is the first non special number.
[...]
I have to fix this,
it’s now or never.
Kita-chan’s house.
It’s as lonely,
as silent,
as unremarkable as always.
Just a normal empty house,
there is nothing eerie about it.
That’s the scariest part about it.
I know there is something weird,
I know I should be scared,
but I can’t bring myself to be.
It’s… charming somehow.
Charming as in pleasant.
Charming as in relaxing.
Charming as in it makes me want to resign.
Everything is fine,
there is nothing weird about it,
I know that is a lie,
but I can’t think anything else.
That is what charm is all about,
it’s not the capability of making people like you,
it’s the magic of making things go your way,
the magic of making people resign without resignation.
…
We knock on the door.
[It opened]
…
It happened again, yet it feels special.
The house is empty.
At least it looks empty.
Not a single sound,
No movement at all.
But I know there must be someone in there.
There is no way Kita-chan disappeared out of nowhere.
“I still think we shouldn’t do anything”
[Of course]
“They won’t be able to solve it on their own unless we give them a little push!”
“They have no choice.”
No choice?
Does she think they won’t run away?
Or does she think…
running away is an option?
[...]
I wouldn’t be surprised if she does.
“We are already here, aren’t we?”
…
“Hmm…”
A sound of acceptance.
[Resignation]
The door…
We both go through it.
We couldn’t really do anything else.
If we are rejected again,
we have no choice but to leave,
no choice but to let it be…
[No]
I won’t resign.
I have to help them.
…Maybe we could…
investigate or something,
surely we aren’t the only ones to see this…
I take a step inside.
I look ahead.
[Outside]
…Again…
This isn’t working.
There must be a way around this.
And even if there isn’t,
I’ll make it.
I refuse to leave things like this.
“Let’s go, Ryo. I’ll think of something for…”
[SLAM]
…
The door closed,
and Ryo is nowhere to be seen.
Is she in the house?
[...]
“Ryo…?”
…
[Silence]
I walk to the door.
I knock on it.
[No reply]
I bang on it.
[...]
Maybe Ryo was right.
Maybe they didn’t need help.
They had to deal with this on their own.
They could deal with this on their own.
They didn’t need a third wheel.